My Masters dissertation with the title ‘The Death of Anonymity, DIY Infosec and Virtual Padlocks: A Study of the Implications of Mass Surveillance on Journalists and their Sources’ was a research project which looked at the state of information security for media professionals and was a qualitative study based on interviews with journalists, whistleblowers and media educators.

ABSTRACT

The 2013 revelations about the extent of mass online surveillance shed new light on the difficulties of remaining anonymous, both online and offline. This qualitative study has investigated the implications this has for journalists and their sources. This was done by looking at the official discourses available, as well as exploring the point of view of journalists, whistleblowers, infosec specialists and those involved in the education of journalists. The analysis showed that issues of anonymity related to journalism and mass surveillance have been acknowledged by bodies such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the National Union of Journalists in the UK, who have all observed growing restrictions in the ability of journalists to provide anonymity to their sources in the digital age. Looking at the legal framework, source protection is discussed both as a right and an obligation. Meanwhile, interviews revealed that mass surveillance and the threat of targeted surveillance has implications for the work of journalists, partly due to problematic discourses around the infosec tools available. Consequently, this raises questions about the future independence of journalists and their ability to exercise the right to freedom of expression in a surveillance society in which all communications can be recorded and stored.

BA Journalism, City, University of London

The dissertation for my bachelors degree with the title ‘News media and NGOs: A study of journalists’ attitudes to campaigning organisations as a news source’ explored the relationship between NGOs and journalists and was based on interviews with journalists and a case study of the coverage of the arrests of Greenpeace’s Arctic 30.

ABSTRACT

New opportunities for NGOs have emerged from today’s media landscape. At the same time traditional news media are experiencing a decline in resources, leading to increased usage of ready­made material from other organisations. This study aims to assess journalists’ attitudes toward NGOs as a source of news and what might influence this. This was assessed through both quantitative and qualitative analysis in the form of a survey and in­depth interviews with journalists. The interviews concerned the reporting of the arrests of Greenpeace’s ‘Arctic 30’. Results showed that journalists had an idealised view of best practice when using material from NGOs which was challenged by what they do in practice, because of a lack of time, access and resources. To some extent journalists trusted NGOs more than the public and private sector, and in some cases attitudes were influenced by an inclination to support campaigns. It also indicated that news media was to some extent dependent on the NGOs, suggesting a power shift between the two.

]]>https://sophiemyron.com/2015/11/29/academic-research-bachelors-and-masters-dissertations/feed/08525329277_bd4a53335a_zsophiemyron8525329277_bd4a53335a_zNEWS: Future of encryption on the spot as US security forces argue for back-door master key to decrypt the communications of people ‘going dark’https://sophiemyron.com/2015/07/15/future-of-encryption-on-the-spot-as-us-security-forces-argue-for-back-door-master-key-to-decrypt-the-communications-of-people-going-dark/
https://sophiemyron.com/2015/07/15/future-of-encryption-on-the-spot-as-us-security-forces-argue-for-back-door-master-key-to-decrypt-the-communications-of-people-going-dark/#respondWed, 15 Jul 2015 11:08:00 +0000http://sophiemyron.com/?p=644

Street art by Banksy Photo: Eugene Gorny, Flickr

Online anonymity came under the spotlight again last week as a US Senate hearing discussed whether a ‘master key’ to all encrypted communications should be made available to the US security forces.

FBI Director James Comey and US Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates appeared before a committee on Wednesday called “Going Dark: Encryption, Technology, and the Balance Between Public Safety and Privacy.” The term “going dark” is used to describe the act of encrypting online communications to avoid them being intercepted by either mass or targeted surveillance.

As reported by Democracy Now, Yates and Comey acknowledged in a joint statement that to ensure a thriving democracy and the free flow of information, “citizens have the right to communicate with one another in private without unauthorised government surveillance”. That said, the duo also argued for so-called extraordinary access mandates, which is back-door access to all encrypted communications for the security agency if required: “When changes in technology hinder law enforcement’s ability to exercise investigative tools and follow critical leads, we may not be able to identify and stop terrorists who are using social media to recruit, plan and execute an attack in our country”, they said.

By contrast, a recent UN report published by the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, David Kaye, says that restrictions on encryption and online anonymity contravene human rights laws.

Online privacy has been a hot topic also in Europe in recent months as the UK Government announced plans to bring back the controversial ‘Snoopers Charter’ following the election – which could deem similar measures lawful in the UK. Also the Queen’s Speech mentioned the Investigatory Powers Bill as she highlighted the need for government access to all communications in the name of national security.

]]>https://sophiemyron.com/2015/07/15/future-of-encryption-on-the-spot-as-us-security-forces-argue-for-back-door-master-key-to-decrypt-the-communications-of-people-going-dark/feed/0What are you looking at?sophiemyronINTERVIEW: Goldman Prize winner 2015 – Fighting industrial pollution in Kenya is a dangerous businesshttps://sophiemyron.com/2015/05/10/lead-poisoning-fighting-industrial-pollution-in-kenya-is-a-dangerous-business/
https://sophiemyron.com/2015/05/10/lead-poisoning-fighting-industrial-pollution-in-kenya-is-a-dangerous-business/#commentsSun, 10 May 2015 13:29:07 +0000http://sophiemyron.com/?p=621Lead poisoning from industrial pollution has imposed a terrible toll on Kenyans, and single mother Phyllis Omido is no exception – lead from a nearby metal refinery badly damaged her own son’s health. But it was when she decided to fight back against the polluters that a whole new realm of threats and dangers opened up.

Phyllis Omido. Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize

Single mother Phyllis Omido from Mombasa, Kenya, lives at an undisclosed address with her nine year old son. CCTV cameras monitor the place at night and she has a panic button on a bracelet which can trace her whereabouts were she suddenly to disappear. The nightmare started in 2009 when Omido realised her baby boy had been poisoned by her own breast milk because she had been exposed to high levels of lead through her job managing community relations at a lead smelter in Owino Uhuru, one of Mombasa’s shanty towns. The smelting plant, owned by Metal Refineries EPZ Ltd, emitted toxic fumes laden with lead and exposed workers and the local community to dangerous chemicals. Untreated waste water from the plant spilled into streams which residents use to wash, cook and clean. Lead levels in the soil increased nearly tenfold within the first twelve months of the factory opening.

Omido has now won the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for Africa – the world’s largest prize for grassroots environmental activists – for the courageous campaigning work which brought the whole community together in the fight against the company and the Kenyan government. After extensive investigations, peaceful protests and letter-writing campaigns the plant closed down in January 2014. The 36-year old says winning the prize was “a shock and an amazing feeling” and that it will help gain credibility for an upcoming court case. “It’s very exciting times. Just the fact that someone recognises what we are doing and that we are not on the wrong side of the law.”

Phyllis talking with children from the community who are suffering from lead poisoing. In the background is the wall to the factory which is located right next to the family’s home. The children play next to the factory wall where the soil is contaminated. Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize

Insufficient protection

Omido had an office position, but many other workers at the plant faced direct exposure to chemicals. They were provided one pair of thin cotton gloves per month which disintegrated after only a few days. Meanwhile, managers entering the factory did so in full protective gear. While working at the plant, Omido initiated an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure. The factory was by this time fully operational, meaning that the Kenyan government had overlooked the legal requirements for an EIA to be conducted before the plant opened. The EIA report recommended closing the factory and relocating away from residential areas. This was rejected, however. Omido was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement and was moved to another position within the company.

Anger lead to action

Her son, King David, now nine years old, was at the time hospitalised for a month due to lead poisoning received from Omido’s breast milk after being exposed to lead on a daily basis. Omido got some compensation, but only to cover hospital costs of $2000. She says it was the anger of seeing her son suffer that motivated her to start the campaign. At first, her employers tried to silence her, but when she saw the rest of the community, many living on less than a pound per day, having to cope with children in hospital and the subsequent bills, she felt that the situation was too bad to ignore: “Something had to be done. I believe anyone in my shoes would have done the same thing.” She went to the plant and started telling people about the poisoning, but she didn’t get people on her side straight away. Shortly after that, an employee who worked close to the furnace passed out.

Phyllis next to contaminated water within the slum area which the community use for washing. Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize

He was removed from the site and died later at his home, an incident that triggered the mobilisation of the workforce. “They started joining me, and some of them quit their jobs and started seeking help”, says Omido. Still, a further two employees died before the plant closed down. Omido left her job at the factory and began cleaning houses and working with the community to assess the impact of the pollution. She raised money to carry out blood tests on local residents and found that 14 out of 15 tested had high lead levels. She then convinced the local health centre to test for lead pollution. Tests showed dangerously high levels of lead for children. Further investigations also revealed that animals such as chickens kept in people’s back yards died after drinking the water, children living nearby developed fevers and stomach problems and pregnant women had miscarriages and stillbirths.

Many still awaiting compensation

Omido alleges that the Kenyan government was complicit in exposing workers and locals to lead pollution, and is now taking them to court with the help of two pro-bono litigators from Advocates Sans Frontieres, in Brussels. “Let them justify the decisions that they made. Why did they decide to license a smelter right in the middle of a community?” She adds that those affected are still awaiting compensation and hopes the court case might help facilitate this. For example, she says, there are mothers whose wombs had to be removed because they had carried children who had died because of lead poisoning and so they cannot get pregnant again. “You can never compensate a lost womb, but they need to take responsibility”, she adds. She is currently awaiting test results conducted by the Ministry of Health and Centre for Disease Control in the US to use in court. She says they are trying to quantify the contribution of the smelter to the lead levels, so they can prove that it was responsible for poisoning the community. Omido says her main objective with the lawsuit is to create a precedent for future cases. “Because the amount of complaints we are getting from Kenyans all around the country are very similar to what these people went through. And they need a precedent in court that they can use in the future to get justice.”

Great personal risks

Whilst campaigning, Omido escaped a possible kidnapping and has been arrested and imprisoned for her work. “They sent armed people after me, to wait for me at my house in the evening. That is the night that I fled and went to where I live now.

Phyllis with son King at the park. Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize

She says that up until last month she received text messages from unknown international numbers threatening her and her son and telling her: “Stop talking about the Owino Uhuru case.” She speaks about these threats very calmly and shows little sign of fear, as if she has grown used to it, but she tells me it wasn’t always like this. “At first it was really bad. Like in 2012. I could not sleep in my bed. I would hold my son and I would put a mattress under the bed so that if someone peeked through the window they wouldn’t have been able to see us. I was terrified.” “Sometimes I get afraid, but I think now it’s not as bad as it was in the beginning. The way the case has progressed now, I know they have very few options. They can kill me, but they will not silence the case”, she adds. While her family advised her to look out for her son’s safety and give up the case, Omido says she received invaluable support from the organisations Frontline Defenders and Human Rights Watch. They helped her see the importance of the case internationally, to feel that she was not alone and that she had possibilities for seeking support. “That helped a lot, just working with these people and them taking action on behalf of the community, so that there’s not just me taking action.”

Setting up her own Business and Human Rights organisation

Prior to starting at the smelter, Omido studied business management at the University of Nairobi and she has ten years experience working in industry in Kenya. Today, she works full-time at her own organisation CJGEA – the Center for Justice, Governance and Environmental Action which she founded in 2009 and which promotes environmental justice in Kenya’s coastal regions. “We get so many complaints, you would not believe it”, she says. She says the people who come with new cases often travel from very poor communities which have collected money so that one person can find her and report the case. She says that, for example, there have been reports of mercury poisoning in mines and in one place 200 cows were poisoned by leaks into their water. When her organisation got involved, the company agreed to pay compensation to the community straight away. “But there are also other industries who just don’t care,” she adds. She also runs mentorship programmes for school children through the organisation to raise awareness and educate the communities of environmental protection and human rights. “It’s going great!” she says, and her face lights up. It is clear that this is an issue close to her heart. “It’s better than I thought,” she laughs, “they are very motivated kids. I want to see if we can raise enough money to make them have a competition this year where we award the best poem about the environment.”

Potential brain damage

Thankfully, her son has recovered well. However, she is awaiting tests for long term brain damage due to the lead poisoning which, she says, she is reluctant to do. “I don’t want him growing up thinking there is something wrong with him.” She is a confident, determined and to-the-point woman, but when she speaks about her boy her voice softens and her eyes light up. She tells me proudly that he wants to be an animal rights activist when he grows up. “He says he doesn’t like the way people treat animals. And he wants to be a vegetarian, he has a mind of his own.” Unfortunately, not all community members were as lucky as her son, she adds. Some of them could not afford care or more extensive tests. Around 3,000 people still live near the factory, although there are concerns that the environment may still be contaminated and toxic.

Creating an environmental impact database

Omido is now devoting all her time to fighting similar cases around the country. A large part of the $175,000 prize money will be put into her non-profit organisation, she says. “At least now we don’t have to worry. The rent is coming up, salaries are coming up, so at least it has sorted that for us for a while.” Her future plans include continuing to expand. “I would like to make a ‘one stop shop’ for the environment. I want us to have a database of all possible industries coming up in Kenya. Who owns them? What is their impact? Have them all accessible from our office. “We want to have full research and access to all EIAs, because right now, when we get complaints, there is a push and pull with governments to access the information.” Omido is clearly a courageous woman who against all the odds has fought hard to protect her family and community. She has a vision for a brighter future for Kenya’s working communities as well. To others who may think of taking action, she says: “Don’t be afraid. Do what is right. This thing happened because too many people were quiet. We really have to stand up and do what is right, especially for the environment. It concerns all of us. “It doesn’t matter how much money you earn in life – if you don’t leave a clean, healthy, sustainable environment for your children, you have done nothing.”

Phyllis Omido is one of six winners of the prestigious international Goldman Environmental Prize which honours and recognises individuals struggling to win environmental victories against the odds and inspires ordinary people to take extraordinary actions to protect the world’s natural resources. Winners are selected from each of the six inhabited continental regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. Visit the website for more information on the other winners.

]]>https://sophiemyron.com/2015/05/10/lead-poisoning-fighting-industrial-pollution-in-kenya-is-a-dangerous-business/feed/12015_PhyllisOmido_13sophiemyronPhyllis Omido. Photo: Goldman Environmental PrizePhyllis talking with children from the community who are suffering from lead poisoing. In the background is the wall to the factory which is located right next to the family's home. The children play in the dirt next to the factory wall - the soil is contaminated. Photo: Goldman Environmental PrizePortrait of Phyllis next to some water within the slum area which the community use for washing. The water has been conatminated by the factory. Photo: Goldman Environmental PrizePhyllis with son King at the parkFEATURE: Should sex sell? Sex-workers and LGBTQ campaigners’ launch new campaignhttps://sophiemyron.com/2015/03/01/should-sex-sell-sex-workers-and-lgbtq-campaigners-launch-new-campaign/
https://sophiemyron.com/2015/03/01/should-sex-sell-sex-workers-and-lgbtq-campaigners-launch-new-campaign/#respondSun, 01 Mar 2015 13:06:00 +0000http://sophiemyron.com/?p=654

Woman protesting during the women’s rights demo ‘Slutwalk’

A lecture hall at London Metropolitan University fills up to bursting point before a meeting to discuss prostitution in collaboration with the Anarchist Bookfair. A joint campaign between LGBTQ organisation Queer Strike and the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) is announced, and Laura Watson from ECP, an organisation made up of current or former sex workers, kicks off the discussion: “Police crack-downs, arrests, raids and prosecutions, all of which have pushed sex workers much more underground and into more isolated areas. As a result, rape and violence has increased massively.”

Prostitution has been a small but hot topic in UK politics for the last couple of years, and the central question is its legal status. An all-party parliamentary group on prostitution has investigated whether or not the law – which today allows prostitution as long as it is not ‘organised’ – should be reformed. Their report, issued in March this year, recommended that the UK follow the so-called Swedish model, in which buying sex has been criminalised, but selling sex remains legal.

The ECP, which campaigns for complete decriminalisation, objects to the report. Watson says: “Criminalising sex workers’ clients won’t stop prostitution, but it will make it much more dangerous for sex workers to work.”

One of the main problems with criminalisation is that it makes it difficult for sex workers to come forward to report violence, because they are afraid the police will arrest them for prostitution offences. Decriminalisation, on the other hand, allows women to work together for increased safety.

Watson says decriminalisation is supported by the Royal College of Nursing, sections of the Women’s Institute, Women Against Rape, and the Lancet Medical Journal and some UN bodies. “Amnesty International also have a draft policy on decriminalisation, so we now feel like the tides are turning.”

The joint campaign has drafted an open letter to the government to urge them to consider decriminalising prostitution and to point out a range of problems with the parliamentary group and its report. The campaigners argue that women should have the right to chose whatever job they wish and have the freedom to decide what they do with their own bodies and that “consenting sex is not a crime”.

Watson says that LGBTQ people are particularly susceptible to police harassment and stigma, hence the joint campaign. The majority of sex-workers, gay or not, are mothers and grandmothers trying to provide for their children, she adds.

Hannah from LGBTQ group Queer Strike says that women should not be criminalised for doing any work which helps provide for their families, including selling sex. “As a lesbian and non-biological co-mum, I have experience of how difficult it is to make ends meet when you don’t have recognition [as a mother] or access to financial support.”

New Zealand decriminalised prostitution in 2000. The ECP says that a five year official review of the change showed that prostitution hadn’t increased or decreased and sex workers were better able to report rape and violence to the police.

Figures are difficult to compile, as much of the prostitution goes on underground. A 2009 report by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour estimated there were around 100,000 people engaged in prostitution in the UK. In London alone there are an estimated 1,500 brothels.

Lisa Longstaff from the organisation Women Against Rape agrees that safety is the key issue. She has seen many sex workers seek help at their centre. She says the Swedish model will not solve these problems: “That is an absolute lie and a total cover up. Swedish women have said in public events: ‘My rights are much diminished under this criminalisation’.”

She finishes off by saying that getting accurate information out is crucial to be able to make changes that can protect women in the future. “If prostitute women aren’t safe, no woman is.”

FACTS ON PROSTITUTION

Buying or selling sex in the privacy of your home is legal in the UK. However, as soon as two or more women work together, it becomes a brothel, therefore organised prostitution, therefore a criminal offense.

According to a 2004 Home Office investigation, more than half of women in prostitution have been raped and/or seriously assaulted, and at least 75% have been physically assaulted at the hands of the pimps and punters. 74% of women in prostitution identify poverty, the need to pay household expenses and support their children, as primary motivators for being drawn into prostitution.

Women in prostitution are 18 times more likely to be murdered than the general population.

People are much less likely to be convicted of murdering a prostitute than of any other murder. The conviction rate of 75% for murder drops to 26% when the victim is a prostitute.

This piece was published in print in Smiths, Goldsmiths Student Magazine, in February 2015

1. Philae wakes up

As comet 67P gets closer to the sun from February onwards, the slumbering lander Philae should get the five watts of power it needs to get back on its feet. “Within the team there is no doubt that we will wake up,” said lead scientist Jean-Pierre Bibring.

2. UN Climate Change Conference

World leaders will convene with the goal of achieving a legally binding, global climate agreement signed by all nations, including China and the US, in Paris on 30 November.

3. Ebola trials

Results from fast-track Ebola vaccine trials are expected in 2015. If successful, a vaccine could be widely available in the summer, World Health Organisation officials say. Three trials are underway, and the first phase II tests for one are scheduled for February.

4. Francis Crick Institute

Named after the Nobel prize-winning British scientist Francis Crick, a new research institute is opening at the end of 2015 in King’s Cross, London. Its 1,250 scientists will carry out interdisciplinary research into illness such as cancer, heart disease, neurodegenerative and infectious diseases.

5. Google Lunar XPRIZE Milestone prizes

Awarded on 26 January in San Francisco as part of a Google incentive for affordable space exploration. In 2016, the first team to achieve a lunar landing and manoeuvre with video footage will win $30m.

6. Darpa Robotics Challenge

This $2m incentive, run by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), will see 11 rescue-bots compete in the 5 June final in California, breaking through walls, manoeuvring fire hoses and navigating debris.

7. Nasa’s New Horizons mission to Pluto

Nasa’s probe New Horizons could get close enough for some deep-space pictures of the little-explored dwarf planet this spring. And on 14 July, after nine years and 3bn miles, it will be as close as 10,000km away.

8. Lisa Pathfinder launch

Scientists from the European Space Agency could get one step closer to confirming general relativity, as their probe Lisa Pathfinder sets out in 2015 to test instruments for the planned gravitational wave observatory, eLisa.

9. HIV vaccine trialled in South Africa

Safety trials of a new version of the first vaccine ever to show success against HIV begin in January in South Africa, where over 19% of adults have the virus.

10. The 100,000 Genomes Project

A scheme run by Genomics England will be rolled out across English hospitals in February, aiming to gather DNA samples from 100,000 NHS patients by 2017, in order to help unlock secrets about cancers and rare diseases.

I wrote this piece for The Observer New Review, published 4 January 2015.

]]>https://sophiemyron.com/2015/01/30/10-scientific-steps-forward-due-in-2015/feed/0Philae_on_Comet_67P-Churyumov-Gerasimenko (1)sophiemyronPhilae on Comet 67P. Photo: Wikimedia CommonsESSAY: The oceans and the anthropocene in the climate change debatehttps://sophiemyron.com/2014/12/12/essay-the-oceans-and-the-anthropocene-in-the-climate-change-debate/
https://sophiemyron.com/2014/12/12/essay-the-oceans-and-the-anthropocene-in-the-climate-change-debate/#respondFri, 12 Dec 2014 18:00:45 +0000http://sophiemyron.com/?p=595A reflective essay related to environmental communications, particularly focusing on the role of the world oceans and the benefits of officially entering a new geological epoch in the climate change debate, written as part of my MA Global Media and Transnational Communications in November 2014 at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Islands are disappearing and countries such as the Maldives are taking measures such as reclaiming the land to keep the state from dissolving. Photo: Ahuren, Flickr

In September 2013, the scientific debate over the human agency on climate change took a small, yet impactful turn. Another report made by scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) stated that there was now sufficient evidence that mankind was responsible for climate change (Harvey: 2013). The IPCC Climate Change 2014 Synthesis Report gave an even clearer message to policy makers around the world:

‘Human influence on the climate system is clear, and recent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history. Recent climate changes have had widespread impacts on human and natural systems’ (IPCC 2014).

Our current era has been termed the Holocene, an interglacial period of about 11,000 years of climatic stability and warm temperatures. In October 2014, experts from around the world convened to discuss renaming the epoch the ‘Anthropocene’, a new time period defined by human activity being a major force influencing the climate, and therefore the history of life on Earth (Chakrabarty 2012). This shift in perception, as Sample (2014) suggests, could be one of the most momentous decisions in human history.

This essay will discuss humanity’s role in mitigating climate change, the potential impact of recognising the Anthropocene and the central role of the oceans in the debate. It will not attempt to give a detailed description of the background to what has caused climate change, i.e. which countries, corporations, ideologies or political parties are responsible for industrialisation and all the implications thereof. However, it should be noted that it is often argued that the Industrial Revolution (including the development of previously undeveloped countries, urbanisation, changes in land use, the burning of fossil fuels, pollution and so on) has been a major contributor to anthropogenic climate change. As the 2014 IPCC report showed, the modernisation of human life (alongside non-anthropogenic climate change that the Earth has undergone in cycles throughout history) has caused greenhouse gas emissions to rise to levels higher than the Earth can ‘metabolise’ and which have now triggered an unsustainable chain of domino-effect reactions, such as rising air and sea temperatures, receding ice caps, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, reduced biodiversity and severe weather events.

Although the evidence is growing stronger, not all scientists agree on the extent of humanity’s role in climate change. However, the arguments in this essay are based on the 95% certainty given by the IPCC report, arguably the most reliable reference available today.

A new epoch

The word Anthropocene was first used by climate scientists Crutzen and Stoermer in 2000 to stress the need for a new view of mankind’s central role in shaping the Earth (Sample 2014). This essay will not go into the scientific details of the suggested new epoch. Instead, it will focus on the potential benefits such shift could have in the debate around climate change.

The main benefits is arguably that if accepted, the ‘hypothesis’ of the Anthropocene will result in fundamental reflection on our current social structures (Vidas and Schei: 2014). In addition, such a shift could raise important questions about current laws and policies and prompt scrutiny of international laws. Because of fossil fuels, the world we inhabit now is profoundly different to the one before the eighteenth century (Lovelock 2014). The Law of the Sea and other treaties and conventions of today are made on the basis of our (what Lovelock calls) ‘Earth Systems’ being in a more stable, Holocene epoch. Moving forward, we need this new term to fix in our minds the huge effect that the presence of technically enabled humans has had and continues to have on our planet.

The Law of the Sea

Historically, the oceans played a large part in the development of industrialisation: alongside technological advances, the law of the (free) sea is a key proponent in facilitating free trade on a global scale thanks to industrial transport, keeping markets open and providing a stepping stone for globalisation (Vidas and Schei 2012). A large part of the Earth’s natural resources are found in the world oceans, which cover 71% of the world’s surface area, and over 90% of the global transportation of goods takes place at sea (Vidas and Schei 2012). Much of these resources are currently not owned or governed as they fall under the Law of the Sea, which was developed in the seventeenth century (although it has been amended several times since by giving back larger areas of the offshore belt of sea to coastal nations’ governance due to growing concern of pollution, waste and overfishing).

The way the oceans are currently governed is highly inefficient and will remain a serious concern for years to come, argue Vidas and Schei (2012:3-15). It is not only pollution, ocean acidification, rising temperatures and depletion of biodiversity that cause these worries. Central to this debate is also the battle between a rising population and the use of the oceans as a free provider of resources. Bearing in mind the evidence for anthropogenic climate change our common goal must be to channel scientific and technological knowledge and to use them to form radical, sustainable policies and laws to reverse and reconcile the human impact on the Earth System (Vidas and Schei 2012). In addition, humans would benefit from starting to consider the Earth System’s elements as essential building blocks for all life rather than human resources: needed to sustain life as a whole and not only to feed humans or to facilitate transport and energy. That said, it should be pointed out that attempting to govern such large and remote areas do not come with an easy solution. One of the issues with creating new laws is figuring out how to enforce them. This is a particular problem in the case of laws for governing the world oceans. The cost of implementation is high (Vidas and Schei 2011:11).

The Oceans

The oceans deserve a central role in the discussion of anthropogenic climate change, which so far has tended to focus on assigning blame for greenhouse gas emissions. For example, it is currently difficult to assign responsibility for ocean warming, which dominates the increase in energy stored in the climate system, accounting for more than 90% of the energy accumulated between 1971 and 2010 (IPCC 2013:9).

The video essay The Free Sea illustrates the oceans’ importance for a nation, using the Maldives as an example, where the country’s president called for the first ever underwater cabinet meeting in order to send an SOS message to the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen in 2009. The Maldives, it has been predicted, will be submerged by rising sea levels within the next one hundred years, raising questions of an uncertain future for an entire country’s people and its sovereignty. If the current international law does not change, the Maldives could be legally dissolved, and unless they find a way to reclaim the land and maintain some islands, citizens will have to acquire other nationalities and be absorbed into other states, or be rendered stateless (Husberg and McLean 2014).

The injustice of how this affects different areas of the world and its peoples in different ways will only become more evident with time. Countries with no shoreline, such as Switzerland, have as much to say in the debate, even though rising sea levels do not yet have a direct impact on them. These and other climate change induced catastrophes, such as severe weather events, are likely to cause mass migration (which needs to be considered in the development of new human rights laws, since asylum seekers today are only accepted if they are refugees from war, not ecological destruction). It is yet to be seen how open nations are going to be to taking these refugees in unless global treaties covering eco-refugees are created. As Anderson (2006:3-6) argues, the importance of the imagined community that is a nation for people is not decreasing and it is feasible that borders will close rather than open in the future: ‘The end of the era of nationalism so long prophesied is not remotely in sight.’

Mitigation

There is a great deal of variation in the solutions proposed to mitigate climate change. Although this essay will not cover all of these in detail, it should be mentioned that leading theories include Naomi Klein’s theory of a need for political change away from capitalism and which includes radical geo-engineering and innovation. In contrast, James Lovelock describes the Earth (which he calls Gaia) as a single organism which, because anthropogenic (human made) climate change is so advanced, will inevitably shake off humans like a bad case of fleas. Vidas and Schei argue that among strategies, a re-examination of current laws related to the governance of the world’s oceans, both because of climate change and increasing globalisation (Vidas and Schei 2012) is needed.

Although capitalism, neo-liberal globalisation and free market absolutism often plays a central role in the ‘blame game’ of climate change, many theorists point out that a Soviet-style modernisation of the world would have produced similar consequences (Chakrabarty 2012). When it comes to the rich versus the poor countries, Chakrabarty also stresses that the rich often get the blame for climate change, ‘and rightly so’, but that when looking for a solution, such thinking will not be helpful as the developing world increasingly adopts the same industrial habits as they undergo a similar modernisation.

Turning around this global instrumentalisation (exploitation by humans) of natural resources requires an innovative way of thinking to start a new Industrial Revolution based on other values and techniques for extracting energy which do not deplete our natural resources, as we cannot always blame current technology (Feenberg 2002:3-9).

The anthropocentric view

In the anthropocentric point of view, humans are superior beings in a world which exists to serve them alone. However, this does not necessarily have to mean that humans cannot recognise the intrinsic wrongness of anthropogenic environmental devastation. This is arguably because such destruction will harm the well-being of human beings (something for which we now see increasing evidence), since our well-being is essentially dependent on a sustainable environment, including access to resources. Environmental ethics emerged as a new subdiscipline of philosophy in the early 1970s. It challenged anthropocentrism by questioning the assumed moral superiority of human beings and suggesting an alternative: the possibility of rational arguments for assigning intrinsic value to the natural environment and its non-human contents (Brennan and Lo 2011).

It is yet to be seen both if humans can come together as well as why they do so. But as the Chinese scholar Feng Han argued (as quoted in Chakrabarty 2013): ‘Human values will always be from a human point of view.’ It could be argued that given the evidence of anthropogenic climate change and the fact that humans in the developed areas of the world have more or less been aware of their own impact on the Earth for a long time, at least since the 1970s, there is little evidence in favour of optimistic ideas of people coming together voluntarily, because it is “the right thing to do” unless incentivised. Despite, or perhaps because of this, it is still conceivable that humans will come to an agreement, as it implies saving their resources, and therefore themselves. The notion of their own impact (in the form of an anthropogenic epoch) on the Earth’s resources could therefore help as a “wake up call” is needed (Vidas and Schei 2012).

Scientists, policy makers and now, increasingly, lawmakers, are starting to look at climate change from a geological point of view taking into account ways of assign responsibility for past, current and future environmental destruction. Consequently, it is useful to look at ethics and ideological dilemmas around climate change when discussing policies. This section will briefly discuss human responsibility for non-human damage as well as damage made to other parts of the world. This is something which will become increasingly important as the impact of our resource usage in the developed world is increasingly impacting underdeveloped countries (Vidal 2013). In terms of ethics, Zylinska (2014) argues that humans begin to engage in thinking about life when confronted with the prospect of death, human or nonhuman. ‘Life typically becomes an object of reflection when it is seen to be under threat.’ (Zylinska 2014:15-19). The question of how policymakers can reach out to people is therefore important. Although what the planet needs is action rather than stories, narratives of human extinction and implications of anthropogenic climate change have an impact on humans and can have a performative effect. Arguably, such narratives are powerful tools in the climate debate, and this is where adopting the new term ‘Anthropocene’ could have positive influence.

If successful, such a shift could provide an incentive for humans to take responsibility for their own immediate environment through laws and policy agreements as well as ecological damage and other issues created by climate change on a global scale. This could also involve a radical and much needed change in the way the oceans are perceived: from a sense of entitlement to them to taking responsibility for them by developing laws that apply to areas both within and outside national jurisdiction (Vidas and Schei 2011:7). These suggestions further highlight the need for global treaties. However, the outlook on such agreements being achieved either at the next major UN Climate Summit in Paris in 2015 or later is bleak, as it is yet to be seen if humanity is able to come together. For as Chakrabarty (2012) points out, humans are complex in this matter: while the need to cooperate is ‘deeply evolved’, their instinct to defend the nest is ‘hardwired’ and poses the question: ‘Do we value the non-human for its own sake or because it is good for us?’

Conclusion

This essay has discussed the benefits of gaining understanding of the extent of the human impact on Earth Systems by recognising the new geological epoch the Anthropocene and the need for appointing a more central role to the world’s oceans in the global climate change debate. This debate has thus far been somewhat paralysed by carbon credit when it comes to assigning blame, which steers the attention of policymakers away from reviewing the Law of the Sea. Perhaps a more successful agreement on mitigating climate change could be reached if the oceans were allowed to take centre stage in the debate.

As Zylinska (2014) argues, humans have produced narratives about different forms of apocalypse ever since we developed the ability to tell stories, Arguably, such narratives are powerful tools in the climate debate, and this is where the new anthropogenic narrative could find its place.

Zylinska, Joanna, 2014. Minimal Ethics for the Anthropocene. Open Humanities Press, an imprint of Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan

]]>https://sophiemyron.com/2014/12/12/essay-the-oceans-and-the-anthropocene-in-the-climate-change-debate/feed/05799827370_8dd60604e8_zsophiemyronIslands are disappearing and countries such as the Maldives are taking measures such as reclaiming the land to keep the state from dissolving. Photo: Ahuren, FlickrINTERVIEW: Pete the Temp – combatting climate change with captivating comedyhttps://sophiemyron.com/2014/12/01/interview-pete-the-temp-combatting-climate-change-with-captivating-comedy/
https://sophiemyron.com/2014/12/01/interview-pete-the-temp-combatting-climate-change-with-captivating-comedy/#respondMon, 01 Dec 2014 18:09:20 +0000http://sophiemyron.com/?p=611Pete the Temp’s remarkable ‘spoken word’ show is challenging, inspiring, terrifying and amusing audiences across Britain. But it’s performance with a purpose – to engage people in a positive fight to protect the Earth from catastrophic climate change. And so far, it seems to be working …

When he’s not on stage or teaching at a primary school in Newham, Pete can be seen performing direct activism stunts such as oil orgies (more on this later) or taking charge of the megaphone at fracking protests around the UK, during which he has at times been chased by armed police and dogs.

“And occasionally I get arrested,” he tells me as we meet to talk about his new ‘spoken word’ – or ‘performance poetry’ as it’s also called – show which is currently touring the country: Pete ‘the Temp’ vs. Climate Change.

“As you can tell by the title, it’s got a comic theme to it. It’s a light-hearted way to discuss climate change and, more specifically, direct action, which is one of the main ideas.”

He uses his history of direct action, or as he explains it “non-violent confrontational direct actions” and campaigning and performing against climate change to entertain and at the same time communicate these issues to a new audience.

“It’s basically me telling the only story I’m qualified to tell, which is what I have done. My story of how I have engaged with the issue of climate change.”

It was his charity work that gave him the nickname ‘the Temp’, also his stage name. Like many arts degree graduates, Pete spent most of his twenties doing temping jobs. But the name is also a mark of solidarity with the underdog, he explains.

And he’s got plenty of that after his time in Colombia – doing human rights work, and investigating extractive industries, British coal mining multinationals in particular. “There, privatisation is really cut-throat and entire industries can be privatised overnight and tens of thousands of people are immediately turned into temps.”

‘Terrified and inspired’

Awareness of climate change is increasingly driving the arts and entertainment industry, says Pete, and we will see even more of this in the future. As the issues become increasingly relevant to our lives, yet the changes we need aren’t happening, people get creative.

“My show is just one way of planting the seed in peoples’ heads of some of the ways that people can be creative. And it’s part of something global, which is globalising in the same way the extractive and financial industries globalise as well. It has been described as the global compassionate revolution.”

He uses humour as a way to make dark subjects more light hearted. He also likes to dress up as a policeman, often making the police at the demo laugh as much as the other campaigners.

Off stage he comes across as a reflective and calm character who, though confident in delivering his thoughts, thinks before he speaks. He’s the first to point out that using humour and stunts is just one way of drawing attention to these issues.

“I try to keep it humble and I do take the Mickey out of myself. I say, ‘Look, I do have a big mouth. This is the way I move through the world. This is my form of creativity: being able to stand up in front of people and be an exhibitionist. Many of you may not want to do the same things, but what is your creativity? What can you give to this movement?'”

And he’s pleased with the response he has had so far. “I had some feedback in Brighton. Somebody said that he was ‘terrified and inspired’, which is a nice range of emotions.”

Have you heard the one about mass extinction?

It’s not all fun and games, however, and Pete stresses the importance of addressing the darker side of these issues as well as developing creative responses.

And you have to have a little bit of levity in communicating climate issues: “A mass extinction, let’s face it, is pretty depressing.” He says that on the one hand we are working towards a better world, and that can be inspiring, compelling, fun to be a part of, and that should be celebrated.

But on the other hand, looking at the darker issues and really “going to that place” is important too – though not everyone agrees. “There is this debate within the movement. Many people would say to keep it positive. We don’t want people to balk against this. We don’t want people to despair.

“But one thing that’s motivated me, at least, is looking at just how brutal, how all-encompassing and just how serious collapse is. We are living through fast-rate collapse mass extinction and it’s happening within our lifetime.

“And you can’t hammer that over people’s heads for too long. But there are parts of the show where I actually look at that and unapologetically go to some dark places.”

Reviving our ancient fireside tradition

Is performance like this the best way to get people engaged? “I think we have to employ a whole range of ways to get our message across, because we’re not winning at the moment. Culture is one very fertile ground for communicating and re-telling these narratives that we are being told by the people in power.

“Spoken word is a particularly good art form for that. It’s all about the intimacy of live performance.”

And this goes for the young as well as the old. Bearder works as a part-time ‘spoken word educator’ at a primary school in Newham, using poetry to get children to discuss challenging issues as part of a national educational programme involving War on Want and Southbank Centre.

“You are liberating voice through creative dialogue, using poetry to show young people that their voice is important.”

Words are powerful, he says, and spoken word has become popular in recent years. “It’s very much a renaissance of the live spoken word tradition, the ancient fireside tradition, as I like to call it.

“These are really exciting times. I think more and more people are seeing the utility of spoken word, especially when it comes to things like this, in capturing people’s hearts and minds.”

To take back the power, we have to break boundaries

So does this work? Yes, he says. People have responded positively to his show, and as a result he has invited local action groups to be on hand for anyone who would like to get involved afterwards.

He says that in the age of online petitions and social media campaigns there’s no substitute for face-to-face activity and going beyond the boundaries of the people in power – the ways and the spaces which they say are acceptable for us to show our anger and our discontent.

He points out that if you look at every successful social movement – anti-slavery, the right to assemble in public places, the right to join a trade union, and the Suffragettes – “you’ll see that they all went beyond the boundaries in terms of what they were allowed to do and the ways and spaces in which they could protest.”

“There’s a very strong case to be made that we in the environmental movement need to be looking more to direct action.

“I’m not able to go into the legislative chamber and write a document, but I can do a stunt such as going into an oil conference, getting it filmed, doing something ridiculous like getting dragged out of a BP Annual General Meeting pretending to be dead.

“The overwhelming majority of people know that climate change is man-made and it’s here. They want to switch to renewable energy and they know that the energy sector is screwing everybody over, but they feel disempowered.”

Bearder says that while recycling, giving money to NGOs, and changing your energy supplier are all ‘good things’, they bore him and even make him feel disempowered.

“Because power structures work on the complicity of people’s obedience to them. But when you can, symbolically, even just for a moment, show that those social norms can be undermined, then it shows everybody that they can do the same, and that’s part of the process of building a social movement.”

Fracking movement bringing communities together

A frequent participant at fracking protests, Pete has seen people from all backgrounds join forces in the fight against fracking.

“Reclaim the Power, I think, is one of the most exciting things happening at the moment, because you’ve got the biggest ever grassroots mobilisation against the fossil fuel industry that Britain has ever seen, and it’s happening across class boundaries and age boundaries and political persuasions.”

“There are mass demos in rural Sussex and so-called ‘nanarchists’, elderly women in wheelchairs, locking themselves to the gates of fracking companies. I have been facing police lines holding arms with middle-aged ladies from the Shires, who you never expect to see facing policemen.”

One of Pete’s most famous stunts was a collaboration with the UK Tar Sands Network in 2011 to expose the “inappropriate” relationship between the UK and Canadian governments on tar sands at a UK-Canada energy summit in London.

“We went in there with fake identities pretending to be oil delegates. There were people like the CEO from Shell and Total in there and the high commissioner of Canada and all these bigwigs. We snuck in there with our fake oil and we stripped our clothes off, jumped on the table and started snogging and having a big loud and dirty oil orgy until they dragged us out.”

“That’s the beauty with direct action: you don’t know what might happen. Even just going out on the streets with a megaphone, just making some noise and making your opinion heard. I know what effect that has in the hearts and minds of people. I think that’s a really beautiful thing that we don’t get it when we are online.”

“Four hundred years ago in this country you could be arrested for not going to church on Sunday. And that didn’t get stopped by people writing letters and signing petitions.

“Direct action doesn’t necessarily mean smashing windows and getting arrested. It can be something else – something that can be fun.”

]]>https://sophiemyron.com/2014/12/01/interview-pete-the-temp-combatting-climate-change-with-captivating-comedy/feed/0Pete The TempsophiemyronPete 'the Temp' Bearder, Photo: MobiusWhat are LCAs and how could they help us spot (un)ethical products on the shelves?https://sophiemyron.com/2014/12/01/what-are-lcas-and-how-could-they-help-us-spot-unethical-products-on-the-shelves/
https://sophiemyron.com/2014/12/01/what-are-lcas-and-how-could-they-help-us-spot-unethical-products-on-the-shelves/#respondMon, 01 Dec 2014 14:59:46 +0000http://sophiemyron.com/?p=736From linear to circular thinking: two experts discuss how introducing a more holistic approach to manufacturing could help us consumers make greener decisions while shopping.

Photo: Omgponies2, Flickr

Many are confused about the labelling on what are marketed as environmentally friendly products. This was confirmed by a study made by the European Commission which showed that six out of ten think that product labels currently do not provide enough information about their environmental impact (59%), and a third believe the information is unclear for some products (32%). Overall, as many as 48% of consumers are confused by the stream of environmental information they receive.

The difficulty with making informed decisions about the ethics of products is partly due to the sheer number of parameters involved in assessing environmental and social footprints, says Hugo-Maria Schally, Head of the Eco-Innovation and Circular Economy Unit, European Commission. Another problem is the long list of existing eco-labels providing information about environmental, and at times social standards.

Schally says that few current labels and the approaches behind them take into account the product’s entire life cycle and tend to focus on single-issue parameters such as greenhouse gas emissions or appliances’ energy consumption. What is more useful, he says, is to adopt a more holistic, cradle-to-grave approach when assessing the environmental impact of the products we buy.

The issue with ‘greenwash’

Schally says: “All companies now like to be sustainable. They all have ‘sustainable’ somewhere in their marketing strategy.” The rise of green business claims in recent years is a positive development, but it also means that consumers, now more than ever, need help with navigating the green label landscape.

Schally says that the issue with potentially misleading claims needs to be addressed, but there is still a long way to go, and comparability, transparency and accessibility to the non-expert are the keys to tackling this challenge: “I think the difficulty with something like this is that you actually need to have comparable parameters for deciding what is a misleading claim. Because if every actor on the market works to his own specifications, challenging those specifications becomes impossible for the individual consumer, and very difficult even for a civil society or consumer organisation.”

What is LCA?

Put simply, an LCA is a methodology used by businesses to evaluate the environmental impact of a product, service or process, from the extraction of raw materials to end-of-life disposal. Data for everything from the extraction of raw materials, energy and water consumption during manufacturing to transportation, energy efficiency during consumption and potential for recycling, is gathered. Some number crunching then demonstrates the environmental impact of the product’s entire life cycle.

In order to show companies and consumers how an LCA approach can be implemented in the building sector, the organisation Cd2e has set up an ‘eco construction theatre’ in Loos-en-Gohelle, Northern France, where green innovations for products and methods related to environmentally friendly business are showcased. An unusual suspect here is locally sourced hemp used for insulation which it was explained has shown good results in life cycle assessments.

In an attempt to assess how this circular approach could in the future replace the linear thinking we often see in product assessments today, the European Commision has launched a project called the Product Environmental Footprint Pilots, currently in a second pilot phase which will run until 2016. The result could be a stepping stone for standardising the use of LCAs in Europe.

For example, conducting an LCA could be used to assess how energy efficient a newly built house is. “You may have an environmentally friendly house in terms of energy usage, but if you take into account how those products were produced, you may actually have a horrible balance,” says Schally. “If you apply a life cycle assessment to such a house, you also get the assessment of how much energy and other resources, such as water, were used in producing the components that go into the house. It tells you more.”

The methodology is not new and has been practiced in various ways globally for some time. Some companies conduct their own, while others outsource to organisations such as Sustain in the UK, which offer to do it as a service. When asked how this EU pilot and the potential outcome is different, Schally says a new, more consumer-focused approach is needed. “Our assessment is that the basic approach, based on ISO [certification conducted by International Organization for Standardization] and current standards are probably not good enough. ISOs are based on industrial use. It’s for business-to-business more than for business-to-consumer, and we want to achieve both, because the business motivation for action is around consumer expectations.”

Taking responsibility for the supply chains

LCAs can also be used for assessing social impacts down the supply chain. Sonia Valdivia, Programme Manager at Sustainable Recycle Industries (SRI), Life Cycle Management, World Resources Forum, says it can play a large part in helping communities in developing countries. “By doing this, you can really help people.”

Valdivia says that in Peru, which is a growing industrial economy accumulating ever more waste, in particular from electronic devices: “The ‘world class consumer’, the people that are spending above what is called the poorness levels, are growing in numbers, and are spending a lot of money on electronic devices. After two years, if not less, we change them. What do we do with them? We see this problem all around the world. If you don’t have infrastructure in the country, they are simply thrown away.”

She says that while perhaps obvious in Europe, many developing countries lack legislation which makes companies set up schemes for recycling electronic devices.

“For example in Peru, such legislation was passed last year. Now they are setting up systems, infrastructure and sites to collect these devices and new technologies to dismantle and recycle them.”

“This was done before, but in a very ‘informal’ way. Families, even children, were ‘informally’ doing this on their own, because there is money to be had. You have grammes of precious metals there. One gramme of gold, for example, is a lot of money for these people. They don’t care if they are being polluted and exposed to toxins. They are thinking about that one gramme of gold, one gramme of platinum. But this is now formalised. They are working under stricter health conditions.” Now, people get money for returning these devices, partly facilitated by doing some sort of LCA and cradle-to-grave thinking, she adds.

The benefits of conducting such assessments are big on several levels, as companies are faced with the magnitude of their impact, says Valdivia. “In the end there is always a lot of waste. By addressing this in a more focussed way, you realise that recycling can close the ‘loop’. You decrease destruction, you increase product recovery and possibly reduce costs. Because it’s not only about the environmental LCA, it’s also about social LCA, meaning that you also ensure a positive impact on the society and people.”

Theory vs practice

There are downsides to the LCA approach, however, especially when it comes to cost. Shally explains that the challenge is to find a balance between measuring as many parameters as possible to reach maximum results and at the same time avoid getting caught up in very small details. It’s a delicate balance and if the approach is taken too far it could lose its efficiency. However, if simplified too much, it loses its holistic foundation. This is why in theory, the LCA approach differs from what it may look like in practice in the future, says Shally. He adds that while you may have the perfect tool with the potential to tell you everything about a product, many companies could be reluctant to use it if its too detailed, because they may not be able to afford the compilation of all that data, which he says is “very expensive”.

The practicalities of rolling out LCA across Europe is a “very difficult issue” which has not yet been nailed down, and much is down to costs, says Schally. “It’s clear that we will have to make sure that specific data sets are easily available. … One of the elements of reflection for us at the end of the pilot phase is essentially how to make data available cost-free, or at a reasonable cost.”

There is currently more than one way of conducting an LCA, and some companies have already taken it upon themselves to do their own. How will the new scheme tackle this? Schally says the difference between the existing assessments and those in the pilot is that the new programme could become a comparable cross-sector and cross-product assessment which spans the European Union. He also points out that there are issues with companies doing LCAs on their own terms which can be a problem from a consumer point of view, as it is difficult to assess which social and environmental claims are accurate. “It may be all fine, but how does the consumer know what’s behind all those efforts?”

To certify or not to certify

Although one of the main benefits of LCAs according to experts at the Avnir Conference is to reduce consumer confusion, it’s unclear if the end result of this pilot will produce a new EU certification based on LCAs. Neither Valdivia nor Schally are convinced that certification is the answer for the future of green products.

Schally says that although he cannot yet speak for the European Commission on this question until the pilots are reviewed, he is not convinced that labels and certifications are the right way forward in general. “Personally, I think the certification brings us back to the cost problem because certification always comes at a cost. And then you have certification bodies that will charge fees for their certification and you create yet another commercial system.”

Valdivia says we may instead see more consumer-led social media forums in which products are reviewed and to which people can turn for information, similar to Tripadvisor. She says that in today’s consumer society people need to make an effort to stay better informed.

It is the outcome of the pilot, explains Schally, which will determine whether or not LCAs will become an EU standard in the future.

I wrote this post for the Ecologist during a press trip to an LCA conference in Lille, France in November, 2014, where I interviewed Valdivia and Shally.

]]>https://sophiemyron.com/2014/12/01/what-are-lcas-and-how-could-they-help-us-spot-unethical-products-on-the-shelves/feed/02195854460_e396b3170a_zsophiemyron2195854460_e396b3170a_bFEATURE: Celebrity video games – in pictureshttps://sophiemyron.com/2014/10/17/celebrity-video-games-in-pictures/
https://sophiemyron.com/2014/10/17/celebrity-video-games-in-pictures/#respondFri, 17 Oct 2014 12:39:40 +0000http://sophiemyron.com/?p=695Celebrities have been happy to grace video games with their presence. So ask no more what Snoop Dogg and Kevin Spacey have in common…